Whilst he qualified fifth for Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton will actually start the seventh race of the season from the second row of the grid in fourth, as a result of Pierre Gasly having been slapped with a six-place grid penalty.
The stewards were incredibly busy after qualifying Saturday evening, with Gasly alone having been investigated for two separate cases of impeding.
Both occurred during Q1, with the first having taken place between the final two corners.
Gasly was awarded a three-place grid penalty for impeding Carlos Sainz, who had to slow down significantly due to the Alpine driver having returned to the racing line after he allowed Charles Leclerc past.
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The home hero immediately stated over the radio that the Frenchman should receive a penalty, something the FIA seemingly agreed with.
“He should get a penalty,” insisted Sainz over the team radio.
Gasly supposedly told the stewards that he couldn’t “avoid” impeding Sainz due to how close the Ferrari driver was to Leclerc; however, the stewards believe that Gasly could have done more to avoid the incident.
“The driver of Car 10 [Gasly] stated he was aware that the second Ferrari was behind but felt he could do nothing to avoid impeding because of the high speed delta and closeness of Car 55 [Sainz] to Car 16 [Charles Leclerc],” said the stewards.
“However it is the view of the Stewards that he could have moved further to the right at the exit of turn 13.”
Moments later after having impeded Sainz, Gasly was busy impeding reigning World Champion Max Verstappen, who stormed to pole position.
Gasly remained stubbornly on the racing line at Turn 4, despite having been driving very slowly.
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Verstappen was forced to bail out of his lap, as a result of Alpine having not informed Gasly that the Dutchman was behind him.
“[Alpine] failed to give appropriate warning to the driver of Car 10, of the approach of Car 1, having told him that cars behind were on a slow lap,” added the stewards in their explanation.
The second incident saw Gasly awarded with another three-place grid penalty, equating to a six-place grid drop overall for Sunday’s race.